Mixing humour with beautifully hand crafted typography is where illustrator Andy Smith excels. The Patternbank team love his quirky offbeat type statements that have real energy and impact. Smith studied at the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art and now lives by the sea in Hastings, East Sussex. We first spotted his work at Pick Me Up(contemporary art fair) at Somerset House and have continued to follow his inspiring work. See more of his work here at asmithillustration.com
Playful geometrics mimicking information graphs come with a hint of nostalgia in Chad Hagen’s work – yet everything still feels very contemporary, clean cut and fresh. Alongside working with geometric shapes to create these pieces monochromatic disjointed imagery, typography and precise linear illustrations highlight his real attention for detail. See his full portfolio at chadhagen.com
Contributed By Sarah Bishop
The Patternbank team love these colourful and incredibly detailed bird illustrations by Ashley Percival. A graduate from the University College Falmouth, Percival’s work has already been licensed by Urban Outfitters and Forever 21. The rich mix of felt tip pens, coloured pencils and paint give these works real impact and a unique fresh interpretation of our feathered friends.
These incredible symbol drawings are detailed graphite pencil drawings on paper, as Bob describes ‘The choice of simple, straight, geometric shapes comes from the observation that society provides us with all but those. A fear for clear images seems to have taken hold of us. As does maybe the fear of reality. Our new relegion seems to be technology, but technology does not provide us with hope and optimism. It simply satisfies our needs. I like to provide clear images that give space to meditate on shape, size, relation and meaning.’ Very refreshing – more work over at bobwaardenburg.com
Layering materials hides the original identity of photographs, transforming them into these mysterious, collaged assemblages. Flashes of colour, from found papers, add depth and contrast in the bold monochromatic mood of the collection. Layers and repetition of shape create an inherent sense of pattern and control – as well as adding a 3D element to a flat image. The recurring circular form has become a signature of Eva Eun-Sil Han – find more of these intriguing pieces at evahan.weebly.com
Contributed by Sarah Bishop
Max Colby is a mixed-media artist currently working in Boston, MA. He is a self-taught tailor and fibers artist with a formal background in printmaking and papermaking. By utilizing extravagant embellishments and applications in conjunction with fragile and dwindling figures both ephemeral (print) and physical (sculptural), the stress of Max’s work is placed on external manifestations of identity construction as a highly performative act. In 2012, Max received a BFA with a concentration in printmaking and papermaking from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Check out more of his beautiful work at maxcolby.com via Arthound
Beautiful screenprinted posters here from the prolific Frenchman, Damien Tran. Each one is handmade, limited edition and produced on runs of usually less than 100. We love the colours, shapes and overall organic and seemingly effortless qualities of these posters. Check out his website damientran.com or his Flickr for more of his great work.
With such a large amount of digitally enhanced work around at the moment, it’s incredibly refreshing to see graphics that have a hand-crafted flavour to them. BMD Designs is a graphic studio based in Bordeaux and has a passion for creating innovative communication graphics. A specialist in apparel graphics, they have an impressive client list, with Levi, Quiksilver, Audi and Volcom already on their books. If you like these, you might also be interested in seeing Caleb Owen Everitt‘s work, which Patternbank featured a couple of months back.
